Friday, February 15, 2013

Coo Coo Cachoo - Ethan is 2!!!

Where do I even begin? Our youngest is now 2! Little Eman is growing up and we celebrated in Nemo style this year. Nanny and Papa came to visit and we had so much fun with them while they were here. Ethan's birthday day was especially special. And jam packed full of fun events.

We started the day off by taking big brother to school. How convenient that he had preschool on Ethan's birthday. That way we could truly spoil bubs. Since Build a Bear did not open until 10:00 we had plenty of time for "can cakes" at Denny's.

"can cakes for me please"

Next up: Build-A-Bear. I haven't been there in years and forgotten how much care they put into making the bears. Or a dog in Ethan's case. First he had to choose an animal. It was a close call between the monkey, the black bear, and the dog. He chose the dog and headed for the sound station where Nanny and Papa added a special birthday wish which can be played back when you squeeze it's paw. Next it was time to stuff it and add lots of love. Ethan picked out 5 hearts and handed them to each of us so we could make a wish for Ethan and place our love inside the doggie. Then it was time to give him a bath. Papa helped Ethan "spray" him down with an air hose and brush off excess fur. Then Nanny helped him pick out an outfit. A birthday shirt of course, jeans, and even big boy underwear! (We are starting potty training very soon.) Lastly it was time to name him. Something from Finding Nemo seemed appropriate so... Chum it is. Chum is one of the sharks in the movie. So little Chum is Ethan's newest buddy and he has been added to the pile of friends that must be present in the bed for Ethan to go to sleep.

The mall near our house (where the Build-A-Bear is located) has a few cool things for kiddos to do. I'm usually too cheap so we had never done the train ride. It travels all throughout the mall and to my pleasant surprise, lasted 15 minutes! Pretty good for a $3 dollar ticket. Nanny and Papa rode in a car with Ethan while John and I sat in the car in front of them. We'll have to take Aaron some time - he would love it.

Though none of us were hungry yet, it was time to pick up Aaron and he would be hungry for sure. So after dropping mom, dad, and I off, John went to get him while I set up lunch. Keeping with the Finding Nemo theme, we had Fish Food (melon balls), Fish and Chips (sandwhiches and chips), and Sea Water (blue Koolaid). Lunch was perfect. I gave the kids their party favors which consisted of the card game "Go Fish", Finding Nemo fruit snacks, bubble bath from the character "Bubbles", little plastic sea creatures for the sand, and sun glasses. Guess which went over the best? Yup - the sun glasses!

Poor Ethan was about to fall asleep at the table. I don't blame him - we were all tired by nap time. It had already been a busy day but the day was not over yet. So after both boys had a nice nap we were finally ready to head downtown to the Aquarium. The boys wanted to see Nemo really bad. In fact, we sort of sped through the first half because that's ALL they wanted to see. The exhibits were fantastic and I look forward to going again, and again, and again. We purchased a membership so we can go as often as we want for a whole year. Some friends of ours did that with the Kansas City Zoo and its a great idea. It pays for itself after two visits and we got my parents in for free.

We had dinner reservations at the Aquarium Restaurant. Dinner was great and we enjoyed sitting next to the enormous fish tank full of "Dori's" and "Bubbles" fish. Later we found out that there are sometimes "Mermaid" performances in the tank too. How cool.

We fought all the way home to keep the boys awake for cake and presents! It was not the best timing on my part to plan the gifts for the very end of the night. Luckily they both made it and by the time they got some cake in their systems they were bouncing off the walls. John and I worked very hard on the Nemo cake. We had fun working together to create sea life from fondant. I love making cakes with my fabulous cake boss hubby. It turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.

After cake we skyped Chelsee and Katie and let Ethan open his gifts. The day was pretty much perfect. Ethan loved his presents and after a little bit of wrangling we finally got the kids to sleep - tucked in their matching sleeping bags. Whew! What a day!

Thanks Nanny and Papa for coming to visit. We had so much fun while you were here. Especially on Ethan's special day.